EXCLUSIVE: The Ground We Stand On
In Zimbabwe, Kenya and other countries wrested from
colonial powers, women must look to their own rich heritage for security and
rights, argues the author, Kenyan feminist and scholar Achola O. Pala.
The delegation with its hosts: (left to right)
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda (Zimbabwe), Brigalia Bam (South Africa), Sekai Holland
(Zimbabwe), Mary Robinson (Ireland), Olivia Muchena (Zimbabwe), Lois Bruthus
(Liberia), Elizabeth Lule (Uganda), Achola Pala (Kenya), Thelma Awori
(Liberia/Uganda)
Recently, I went on a solidarity mission to Zimbabwe
with other African women leaders to support women of Zimbabwe who are working
across party lines as well as ideological, religious and cultural divides to
build democracy. The mission was led by Mary Robinson, former president of
Ireland, as part of her global women’s initiative called Realizing
Rights.
We met with a broad section of women, many of whom
were lawyers and defenders of human rights deeply involved in the
constitution-making debates, all determined to get the drafting right in order
to ensure women’s rights.
Our hosts included two Zimbabwean women whom I had
known since our early days as student activists for the liberation of Zimbabwe,
and later as comrades in the African women’s movement: Olivia Muchena, minister
for Gender, Women’s Affairs and Community Development, and Sekai Holland,
minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister, Organ for National
Healing, Reconciliation and Integration. Both women leaders had been working
together across their two parties to build a new bridge for dialogue and peace.
Nonetheless, a conversation I had with Brigalia Bam of
South Africa, also a member of our delegation, made clear that the South
African constitution, which was very well designed with safeguards for
women—much more egalitarian, for instance, than the U.S. Constitution—is still
not enough for most women to come even close to realizing their rights. I
realized once again in a dramatic way that—in the guise of the “rule of law”
and a concept of human rights derived from a supposed universalized Western
culture—Africa is still looking to a distant and top-down recourse to justice
instead of our lived reality, and to a colonized version of our history instead
of our own existential authenticity, which has so influenced our own childhoods
and our identities.
Despite all that, so many of us have often accepted
the notion of African “traditional culture” as if it were the enemy of women,
and the word “Western” as if it contained women’s rights. Perhaps we should
substitute the word “original” for “traditional,” meaning the ground we stand
on is rooted in African millennial cultures that supported us long before the
arrival of colonial conquerors with patriarchal religions and political
systems.
As a young woman growing up in the village culture of
west Kenya, for example, I knew that we had a bill or rights and a human rights
code by which we lived long before colonization. The idea of the sanctity of
personhood and human agency was enshrined in everything we did. As children we
were taught to play together and accept defeat honorably if you lost a game. In
principle and practice, human rights were the cornerstone of life and a good
mind. Every human being—child, woman, man, stranger and foe—had the right
to be and to be heard. Therefore consultation was at the heart of
decision-making. My culture forbade wanton killing of people and violation of
people, including children and women. We were taught to treat each other
with respect, protect the rights of persons with disability and include them in
all activities to the best of their ability. A widow had the right to choose
the man to be with after the death of her husband and she had the right to ask
him to leave if the relationship proved unsatisfactory. And a married woman had
the protection of her favorite brother-in-law, referred to as the “leopard
skin” to denote his critical role in protecting and supporting the
sister-in-law from danger or exploitation.
Quarrelsome men who treated their wives with disdain
were not respected in the community and were often chided in gatherings for
their unbecoming conduct. A woman who married out of the community still
kept her family ties in her place of birth. My mother inherited several
goats from her mother and always went back to visit her family where she
enjoyed enormous respect until her death. And today, my sisters and I (all
married with our own homes) continue to have access and use of our mother’s
house and a freedom that far exceeded that in cities where women were often
forbidden in public places by law on the grounds that women must be “loitering”
and must be prostitutes. My sisters and I were educated in the colonial version
of education, but equally with my brothers because my parents understood we
would need the protection of education and jobs as much if not more.
Community governance was consultative and provided for
the separation of powers between politics, peace-making, spiritual and military
leadership. And men sought the wise counsel of women elders before going into
war. If we look into our cultures even today, wherever we are in the continent,
we will find the ground we are standing on and how to build new viable
institutions and equality norms going forward.
As a young anthropology scholar, my early work led me
to conclude that African women, by and large, had greater recognition, more
rights, greater security of tenure in land and protection, and greater control
over their reproductive lives under their original political and economic
systems than under the systems adopted from European colonial models.
Even a cursory analysis of the period preceding
colonization—looking at matrifocal societies like the Ashanti of Ghana, for
instance, or the Bemba of Malawi, or the Lovedu of the Transvaal or the BaKongo
of Congo Basin in DRC, or those such as the Nandi and Kipsigis of Kenya that
had complementary roles for men and women—points to great strengths of the
leadership of women in Africa’s economy, politics, spirituality and arts. And I
have become more convinced of this as I gather evidence from the writings of
Native Americans, whose governance systems were far more the source of democracy
than was ancient Greece, and also from indigenous peoples around the world
where women’s agency was stronger and more visible than in the received Western
cultures.
It’s not surprising that the patriarchal colonial
gender regimes deprived African women of identity (at marriage, the requirement
to drop her own name for that of her husband), livelihoods (communal authority
over land became reinterpreted as individual men’s rights) and human security
(women became commodities to exploit, prostitute and violate in slave trade,
trafficking, tourist commerce and war).
In 1880, when European powers sat down in Berlin to
divide Africa into pieces they would colonize regardless of the interest of
African peoples, the result was the nation-state. The colonial structure served
to separate indigenous communities, language groups and families by artificial
borders often drawn with the purpose of dividing and controlling people.
Indigenous populations became non-people under the law, and women were even
more marginalized. As violence against African people became normalized, a new
culture of violation of women’s rights became part of the overall plan of
forced relocation and concentration of indigenous people in marginal lands.
The colonial economy legitimized the destruction of
African biodiversity and natural resources, food base and environment through
logging, commercial hunting, alienation of communal land, imposition of new
intellectual property rights and patents over common goods and communal
medicinal plants and vegetables. Chemical fertilizers began to deplete soil
fertility and destroy drinking water sources. The shift undercut indigenous
farming systems over which African women held considerable expertise and power.
At the same time, forced and under-remunerated jobs took men away from their
home communities, truncating family livelihood strategies. Men working in far
away cities and mines had little or nothing to send home to their villages. The
separation was exacerbated by commercial laws establishing ‘legal’ boundaries
between rural ‘reserves,’ commercial plantations and towns—which in Kenya, as
in Zimbabwe, redefined gender relations through the restriction of movement and
social interaction between ‘tribal’ and urban spaces.
Before the 1880s, borders between language groups had
been porous, and a cooperative gift and barter system allowed groups to build
trust by exchanging seeds, products and tools. African women played a pivotal
role in this economy, especially during periods of scarcity. Imposition of ‘reserves’
disrupted an economy that appreciated cultural diversity, erecting an
ideological barrier of ethnicity in its place, which was to become an
incendiary nightmare in the 20th Century.
In addition, the colonial need for urban spaces both
divided Africans from Asians and Europeans by law and excluded and
disenfranchised women. Women could enter the wage economy only informally, in
the outskirts of towns and later as domestic workers and nannies. The
criminalization of their presence in towns as prostituted women devalued women
as a group, and many more were trafficked in the emerging commercial urban sex
industry. For women, the rule of law was almost entirely punitive, depriving
them of development opportunities and perpetuating social inequalities and violence.
The effects of these policies and laws rippled across
Africa and were felt even more acutely in the countries of Algeria, Kenya,
Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia and South Africa. As
opposed to West Africa, these “settlement colonies” were structured around a
small immigrant white population invited in and subsidized to exploit the
colony for their motherland. The settlers could acquire large tracts of arable
farmland and create black squatter populations to serve as labor.
Today Africa pays the price of embracing colonial
structures ill adapted to our well-being. Countries face a paradox in which the
“rule of law” is touted as a panacea for good governance but often flouted in
ways that undermine citizens’ ability to rely on judicial institutions. Laws
that are incoherent and fragmented result in opaque and corrupt judicial
practices, and justice is not easily assured for ordinary citizens unable to
buy the services of a lawyer. For women, the burden of inequality is often worse.
In many countries we are still stuck with this dichotomy.
No wonder the success of the African state, today, as
a protector of citizens is a mixed bag. In some cases, the state is developing
as a defender of majority interests, and women are over or close to half of
parliaments in countries like Mozambique and Rwanda. In Tanzania, women hold
key ministerial posts. Yet in others, heads of state maneuver state apparatus
to extend their terms in office. In a number of cases, my country of Kenya
included, we have seen failed elections—hints that citizens may be unable to
muster the necessary might to exercise rights even where these may be
entrenched in a nation’s laws and constitution. Along with this turmoil, we
have seen an unprecedented rise in violence against women, some of it
state-sponsored. So we do have to ask ourselves what is driving this change
towards violence against women? And what is the kind of state responsibility we
want to see in our region?
The common belief is that a rights based approach
comes to us from a more universalistic and therefore more legitimate realm of
thought, and African culture has come to be regarded as the enemy of women. But
we must understand how gender based violence became normalized in the context
of colonialism and that the Human Rights approach is essentially a Eurocentric
paradigm born out of an expansive phase of capitalism marked by economic
competition, slavery and invasion of territory.
In Kenya as in Zimbabwe, limited time has been
invested since independence in building a robust state with democratic
institutions and processes that deliver justice to the majority of the people,
let alone women. The British abandoned ship in a hurry, leaving behind
makeshift structures and fragmented laws without accountability. Unfortunately,
like Kenyans, Zimbabweans had left the matter of politics to politicians and
the rule of law to lawyers for too long. A dual economy of communal and
commercial sectors moved along until it exhausted all its possibilities. The
pressing task we still have to do is one of designing the state with structures
and rules that draw on our millennial culture history on which to build a
credible present and future. This is where national healing and integration
must begin.
What we as African women must do is to identify those
aspects of our own political, economic and cultural history that make African
women great, and ensure that those are incorporated as rights within the
emerging structures of our countries.
That is the ground we stand on.
The views expressed in this
commentary are those of the author alone and do not represent WMC. WMC is a
501(c)(3) organization and does not endorse candidates.
in Zimbabwe
Jun 15 2010
(http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/lifestylenews/
your-life/2010/06/15/) By Mary Griffin
THIS
is Refugee Week, and we have asked two city residents to share
their
stories.
Today
Mary Griffin meets Anastasia Chokuwamba who fled an
abusive
existence in rural Zimbabwe and with the kindness of
strangers
managed to start a new life in Coventry.
--------------------------
THE
BEATINGS were so brutal that sometimes she came round to find her eyes
were
swollen shut.
It
was Anastasia’s wedding day that marked the moment her life began to fall
apart.
She
was only 15 when her father and brothers selected the 40-year-old man she
would
marry.
Now
37, and living in Coventry, she recalls: “Back home in Zimbabwe for us
women,
we are in our own category.
“We
are under men – not just your husband, it could be your father or your
brothers.
“We
have no choices. We are just supposed to say ‘yes’ to what we are told.
Coventry Telegraph - Lifestyle - Your Life - Coventry woman fled
from life of torture...
“When
I was 15 my family – the men – went together and arranged for a man for
me so
I had to be with someone I didn’t choose with my own heart.
“When
I got there the person was much older than me so whatever he said I would
just
have to say ‘yes’, just like how it was at home with my father and brothers.
“This
man was an ex-combatant and he was a cruel man.”
Having
left her family to live with her new husband Anastasia found herself
subjected
to daily violence and a relentless torrent of psychological torture.
She
said: “Within a week I realised, that’s it. That’s the end of my life.
“Every
single day there would be a beating and verbal abuse. Every day. So I lived
with
cuts, bruises, swollen face – swollen everything.
“Here
you would call that evidence, but there those are issues of the household
and
they are for no one else to see.”
Anastasia
said she tried to share her problems with her mother but knew she was
powerless
to help.
She
said: “I knew my mother was suffering together with me. She was a woman so
she
understood but she couldn’t help me in any way.
“My
mother was one of three wives of my father. The position of your mother
towards
your father is the position you take in the family.
“My
mother was not the favourite, so it was like we didn’t matter.”
After
four years of abuse Anastasia contemplated suicide.
She
said: “I thought I don’t think I can live any longer. I didn’t know where to
go. I
had
never been anywhere else.
“In
my mind I just wanted to leave but there was nothing for miles and miles and I
had
no means of getting anywhere.
“I
thought if I walk and walk and walk I could get a bite from a snake or I could
come
up against a lion or I could just starve on the way. Any of these deaths would
be
OK.
“I
felt, nobody cares about me so why should I care what happens?
“So
every day you pray for death. How pathetic that is.
“If
you hear someone is seriously ill, you wish that is you.
“If
you attend a funeral, at the same time as crying you think, “If only that was
me”.”
But
it took five years of daily torture before Anastasia made her move.
She
said: “By then it was getting worse.
“I
remember once after the beating I thought he had killed me.
“I
didn’t know how long I had been unconscious because we didn’t have clocks or
watches
but I was preparing dinner when it started and when I woke up everybody
was
sleeping so I knew it must have been late.
“For
a week I couldn’t see anything but red because my eyes were swollen shut.
“But
I could hear him telling people outside that I had gone to visit my parents
because
he wouldn’t allow people to see me like that.
| Written by The Zimbabwean |
| Wednesday, 16 June 2010 10:18 |
| Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. ROHR Zimbabwe joins the rest of the African continent in commemorating the day of the African in light of the innocent children who were brutally killed in Soweto during the apartheid in defense of their right to education through protest. This year's commemorations come at a time when Africa stands as the continent with the highest number of children who are out of school at the backdrop of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aiming to achieve free education for all children in Africa by 2015. As the continent is taking the center stage culminated with the hosting of the FIFA world cup it is incumbent upon the African leaders at large to ensure that the blood of the innocent children lost in the historic protest for the right of education is not spilt in vain by taking purposeful steps towards transforming the continent into a power house for educational empowerment in the world. As enshrined in article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) education is a legitimate universal right for all regardless of economic or social status in society. The prevailing conditions in the education environment in Zimbabwe currently leave a lot to be desired as far as the intended target of achieving free education as a basic fundamental right for all children is concerned. It is regrettable that the students' right to protest against oppression and redress of the challenges besieging them is still contestable under severe persecution from the state and government through repressive legislation like POSA, AIPPA and excessive use of force from law enforcement agents. A lot needs to be done to regulate the exorbitant fees structures in the education system to ensure that the children from the majority of low earning parents of Zimbabwe are not discriminated against economical background. It is also critical for the government to be watchful on controlling the quality of education offered by the system by making sure that the workers in the system are well remunerated in line with the regional trends. Deliberate bold efforts should be escalated in amplifying the equality of all human beings in light of the plight of the girl child in Africa. The old generation myth which placed boys as favorites to getting educational opportunities over girls has no place in today's democratic society and it should be condemned with the uttermost contempt that it deserves. More attention should be put in developing the educational infrastructure in marginalized communities to levels matching the facilities in most towns of the country. It is appalling that there are communities in which children are learning under repellent conditions like squatting under trees with no decent shelter, furniture or stationery. If the country is going to make strides towards attaining quality free education for all, there is need of coming up with a deliberate uniform course of action with clear measurable national indicators to measure progress towards the desired set targets and desist from leaving on the past adage that country once had the best education in the continent . In line with this year's theme "Planning and budgeting for children: our collective responsibility" a national monitoring and evaluation strategy should be put in place to govern the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the chosen initiatives. Education is one of the armories that will deliver Africa from the bondage of poverty and impoverishment. ROHR Zimbabwe notes with growing concern that the young generation has been neglected and relegated to insignificant roles equating to instruments central to the culture of violence instead of being a pillar of the foundation of the next order. Deliberate attempts by selfish politicians of turning the youths into mercenaries is a criminal offense with far reaching effects on the future of the next generation for political expediency. Lack of knowledge and vital information continues to be Achilles hill for the young generation presenting opportunities for greedy green eyed monsters to take advantage and exploit them into dirty political games for quick gifts like drugs, marijuana and beer. It is regrettable that a substantial amount of crimes committed against humanity in the 2008 elections were carried out by youth militia under organized sponsored violence. It is our humble submission that all these ill activities will not help the African continent achieve education for all as faster as desired but will only continue to ensure that those who are out of school are engaged into unproductive activities harmful to the human race. We therefore challenge the entire global community to make frantic efforts to help make free education for all a reality. Africa needs the shifting of a mindset to a new crop of God fearing leaders with an inherent culture of respecting fundamental human rights, education being one of them, to defeat and deny the over shadowing painful era of a generation shrouded in armed conflict, rampant crimes against humanity, culture of violence, corruption, dictatorship and suppression of people's freedoms. |
VOA News
Politics Updated: 8:04 UTC
Tuesday 15 June 2010 RSS Feed
US
Secretary of State Clinton said the 'ruling clique' within President Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party 'continues to benefit from aid, benefit from the diamond trade,
benefit from corruption to a very significant degree'
U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe’s ruling clique continues to benefit from corruption and trade in
diamonds as ordinary Zimbabweans suffer.
Clinton
told a seminar at the State Department that the United States will maintain
pressure on Mr. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party. She said it has been difficult to
bring change to an unfortunate situation in the country.
"It's
a very sobering situation," Clinton told the seminar on Sub-Saharan
Africa, "it's a very sad one indeed because the ruling party, the ruling
clique within that party continues to benefit from aid, benefit from the
diamond trade, benefit from corruption to a very significant degree." She
added: "People are suffering.'
Clinton
said the United States is "trying to walk a line between supporting the
people, keeping the pressure on the Mugabe leadership, working with South
Africa to try to get that message across."
But,
"I'm not going to stand here and say we have some perfect formula, because
it's extremely difficult to try to do what we're doing, and (make) a difference
for the people of Zimbabwe, but we're going to persist in doing so."
Her
comments closely followed a report from advocacy group Global Witness saying
Zimbabwe's political and military elites are using violence and links to
companies working in the Marange field to loot diamond wealth. The Kimberly
Process Certification Scheme has also come under fire for what its critics call
weak action in Zimbabwe.
Political
analyst Joy Mabenge of the South African-based Institute for a Democratic
Alternative for Zimbabwe told VOA Studio 7 reporter Sandra Nyaira that Clinton
was right on target.
VOA News
ZANU-PF
cabinet members favor a Chinese or other Asian investor while most ministers of
the two Movement for Democratic Change formations want either Jindal or
Arcelor-Mittal to receive serious consideration
Gibbs Dube | Washington15 June 2010
The
government of Zimbabwe has renewed its search for a partner in recapitalizing
the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, or Ziscosteel after rejecting two
prospective bidders, Jindal Steel Private Ltd. of India and the South African
subsidiary of Arcelor-Mittal, another global steel giant.
Industry
sources said ministers in the country's government of national unity are
divided over the Ziscosteel bids with ZANU-PF cabinet members favoring a
Chinese or other Asian investor while most ministers of the two Movement for
Democratic Change formations want either Jindal or Arcelor-Mittal to receive
serious consideration.
Sources
said the MDC ministers argued that seeking an Asian partner will be futile as
one Chinese investor has already pulled out of a prospective deal citing
interference by government officials. ZANU-PF cabinet members countered that a
major player might in the longer run completely take over Ziscosteel, diluting
sovereign interests.
Minister
of State for Enterprises and Parastatals Joel Gabuza declined to comment. But
he reportedly told Parliament recently that the government is still interested
in the Arcelor-Mittal and Jindal Steel bids.
Political
commentator Nkululeko Sibanda of Bulawayo told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube
that ZANU-PF wants to control the company to maintain its own power. “It
is therefore necessary for this firm to be privatized than have state resources
being misappropriated by a small group of people,” said Sibanda.
VOA News
President
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara on Wednesday were to officially launch the long-delayed
outreach phase of the constitutional revision process
Jonga Kandemiiri | Washington &
Harare15 June 2010
Zimbabwe's
three unity government principals are expected to speak out against political
violence and intimidation on Wednesday in launching a long-delayed
constitutional revision public outreach process.
President
Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara were to attend a launch ceremony at the Harare International
Conference Center with Cabinet ministers and members of the Harare diplomatic
corps, parliamentary sources said.,
Co-Chairman
Douglas Mwonzora of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional
Revision told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that some members of Parliament who had
threatened to boycott the exercise over what they say are inequities in daily
expense allowances have agreed to participate pending discussion of the issue.
The
Zimbabwe Council of Churches urged the principals - all three signed the 2008
Global Political Agreement for power sharing - to hold joint rallies in all 10
provinces to speak out against violence in the outreach phase.
Council of
Churches spokesman Rev. Solomon Zwana said the churches have pledged pastoral
support during the outreach phase of the constitutional rewrite, and will also monitor
the process.
Elsewhere,
police in Mutoko, Mashonaland East province, arrested about 10 members of the
Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on
robbery charges in connection with their complaints their property was looted
by ZANU-PF militants in the 2008 election period.
MDC
officials said the arrests were intended to discourage public participation in
the outreach process, as VOA Studio 7 correspondent Irwin Chifera reported from
Harare.
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 16 June 2010 By Alex Bell 16 June 2010 Chegutu farmer Ben Freeth, who has been campaigning for the rights and protection of commercial farmers in Zimbabwe, has received a prestigious royal award from the Queen of England, for his services to the farming community in Zimbabwe. Freeth was named as one of 44 recipients of a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) as part of the Queen’s birthday celebrations over the weekend. An MBE is a prestigious international honour and is a tangible recognition of Freeth’s efforts to combat the injustices of Robert Mugabe’s land-grab campaign. Freeth and his father-in-law Mike Campbell, who co-own Mount Carmel farm in Chegutu, made history in 2008 when they took Mugabe’s government to court over land ‘reform’. The protracted legal battle within the human rights Tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) led to the pair and Campbell’s wife Angela, being abducted, beaten and tortured. But despite their serious injuries, they continued with their campaign to seek a legal precedent to protect Zimbabwean commercial farmers from land invasion. The SADC Tribunal eventually ruled in the farmers’ favour in late 2008, declaring the land ‘reform’ programme unlawful. Mugabe’s government was ordered to protect the farmers and their right to farm peacefully on their properties, an order that has been completely ignored. Freeth and Campbell have both been forced off their property after their homes were burnt down last year by land invaders. Land invasions and the persecution of farmers in the courts have also continued to intensify across the country. Freeth told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that the MBE award is a “great credit to all the people that have been so loyal and forthright in this fight for justice.” He called the award an honour that gives encouragement to the ongoing fight against illegal land seizures, a campaign that has left millions of people destitute. Over the last decade of land ‘reform’, an estimated two million farm workers and their families have lost their jobs and homes, and the destruction of the agricultural sector means the country is almost entirely dependent on food aid. “At last we are making some headway,” Freeth said. “This is encouraging for all of the farming community and their efforts during this past turbulent and traumatic decade.” Freeth added that he hopes the award will help the ongoing fight for justice saying: “We hope it will create a new, positive platform from which our country can move forward.”
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 16 June 2010 By Alex Bell 16 June 2010 The General Council of the Bar of South Africa (GCB) has called for a probe into orders passed down by Didymus Mutasa to ignore court orders protecting commercial farms from invasion. The bar council said it learnt with “shock and dismay of reports that a Zimbabwean minister of state has encouraged villagers to disobey a court order with which they are not in agreement.” “The GCB calls on the government of Zimbabwe to investigate the reports and to take corrective action to avoid a total collapse of the judicial system in Zimbabwe,” it said in a statement. Mutasa earlier this month ordered a group of villagers in Chipinge who are occupying a coffee plantation to ignore a court ruling ordering them to vacate the land. Two months ago the Chipinge Magistrates’ Court had ordered that the 300 who had moved on the property should vacate the estate because it was not gazetted for resettlement under Robert Mugabe’s land ‘reform’ programme. But Mutasa ordered the villagers to disregard this legal ruling, justifying his actions by saying he was “protecting the poor.” The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) has since said that Mutasa’s comments are responsible for the recent intensified onslaught against the remaining commercial farming community. In the past few weeks at least 18 farmers have faced land attacks from invaders, despite being in possession of court orders allowing them to continue farming on their properties. This includes former CFU president Trevor Gifford who was forced off his Chipinge farm over the weekend. Gifford has still not been allowed back onto his farm after a mob of invaders forced him and his wife to pack up their belongings and flee the property on Sunday evening. Gifford told SW Radio Africa this week that he has received no assistance from the police, explaining that police members are apparently following orders not to assist white farmers. Gifford also reportedly spent two hours pleading for help from ministers and senior officials in the MDC, but there has been help from there either. Giles Mutsekwa, who serves as joint minister of Home Affairs in the unity government, reportedly told Gifford: “I give orders (to police), but it doesn’t mean they get followed.” Mutsekwa’s comments are a clear indication of the lack of power wielded by the MDC within the unity government. The MDC meanwhile has made no effort to condemn the ongoing land attacks. CFU Vice President Charles Taffs told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that his organisation has been appealing for months to the government to intervene on the farmers’ behalf. He warned that the continued disregard of the courts and the refusal of the police to uphold the rule of law was “close to anarchy.” “We welcome the calls by the South African Bar Council to investigate the reckless comments by Mutasa,” Gifford said. “Surely the government must realise now that these kind of comments (by Mutasa) are not in the best interest of the country?”
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 16 June 2010
By Lance Guma
16 June 2010
The country’s three political leaders, Morgan Tsvangirai, Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara, appeared together at the Rainbow Towers conference centre in Harare on Wednesday to officially launch the public hearings for a new constitution. A few hours before the leaders had joined South African music legend Yvonne Chaka Chaka in launching the Day of the African Child at the same venue.
The constitutional outreach exercise is several months behind schedule owing to delays caused by endless squabbles over the composition of the teams, talking points to shape the hearings, donor funding and other issues. Even the police force, funded by the tax payer, shamelessly joined the ‘free-for-all’ mentality by demanding US$3 million to police the exercise.
Meanwhile the dates for the start of the outreach remain subject to change as meetings were still being held on Wednesday to finalize them. Provisionally the parliamentary team who are driving the process will deploy outreach members to the provinces for accreditation on the 23rd June. The teams will undergo an induction programme the following day on the 24th, before going into the communities for the actual consultations on the 25th June.
Douglas Mwonzora, one of the co-chairs of the parliamentary team, said earlier in the week; ‘Each outreach team is composed of 10 officers who will capture the views of the people. Each outreach team will be accompanied by five police officers whose duty will be to maintain peace at each of the gatherings. The consultations will take place in 65 days and we hope that it will be violent free.’
While Mwonzora remained optimistic on the issue of violence his own MDC-T party used its weekly newsletter to publish various incidents of violence, in different parts of the country. The party said ZANU PF had established bases at five schools in Maramba Pfungwe in Mashonaland East province, disrupting normal learning at the schools ahead of the constitution making process. Each school has either ZANU PF youth officers who are on the payroll of the Public Service Commission, self styled war veterans or ZANU PF councillors.
“The training is being done daily in the morning, which has seriously affected learning at the schools as the trainers disrupt lessons,” one of the teachers at the affected school who spoke on condition of anonymity said. “The youths are trained with wooden guns on how to handle military weapons. The investigations showed that if any of the children failed to turn up for training, ZANU PF youths would be sent to their homes to force them to attend.”
The MDC-T also said its Midlands North provincial chairperson, Cephas Zimuti, was arrested at Gokwe Centre on Sunday for mobilizing supporters to attend the public hearings for the new constitution. “By the time of going to press, he was still detained at Gokwe Centre police station,” the party newsletter said. Despite the obvious evidence of violence and intimidation in mainly rural areas Mugabe used the launch of the outreach to claim the leaders were united in denouncing violence.
According to a revised timetable a draft constitution should be ready by February next year, while a public vote on it is expected to be held in May next year. In theory, this should pave the way for elections.
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 16 June 2010
By Tichaona Sibanda
16 June 2010
Three prominent ZANU PF officials, among them Jonathan Moyo the core architect of some of the most draconian laws in the country, were on Wednesday added to the growing list of the MDC’s roll of shame.
The campaign was launched by the MDC in March this year and several perpetrators of violence have been named and shamed since then. The latest list includes for the first time relatively senior figures in ZANU PF, accused of waging terror against MDC supporters in 2008.
The latest edition of the MDC newsletter, The Changing Times, charged that Moyo is the architect of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) that was used to close media houses. Moyo is MP Tsholotsho and ZANU PF Central Committee member.
‘Political prostitute Moyo has also since 1999 churned out hate speech that has encouraged the spirit and culture of violence across the country. Many people have lost their lives, property while thousands have been maimed and tortured as a result,’ the newsletter said.
Gun toting former Health Minister, David Parirenyatwa, is alleged to have organized and sponsored torture bases in Murehwa North (his constituency). His vehicle was reportedly used by gangs who assaulted MDC supporters and destroyed or looted their property and livestock.
‘In June 2008, Parirenyatwa held a rally at Mukarakate Business Centre in Murehwa, where he threatened all MDC supporters with death if they voted for President Morgan Tsvangirai. Several MDC supporters were severely assaulted at this meeting and at another rally he held at St Peters in the same area. He was also witnessed branding an AK 47 at the rallies,’ the newsletter added.
The MDC said former Youth Minister, Ambrose Mutinhiri, personally led a campaign of violence against their supporters in the Mahusekwa area of Marondera West.
‘He would order the detention of MDC supporters for no apparent reasons. He set up and financed ZANU PF militia bases in the Chihota communal lands where many MDC supporters were assaulted and tortured,’ the MDC said.
The MDC-T has said it is supporting the fight for justice for victims of the 2008 election violence and demanding prosecution of people who committed acts of rape, murder and torture.
The MDC insist the perpetrators must face justice. In the three months between the March 29th vote and the June 27th runoff election in 2008, ZANU PF militias, under the guidance of 200 senior army officers, set about battering the MDC.
By election day hundreds of MDC supporters were dead, many more were missing, tens of thousands had been tortured and badly injured and over half a million were homeless. Tsvangirai dropped out of the contest and took refuge in the Dutch Embassy.
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 16 June 2010
By Violet Gonda
16 June 2010
A key meeting on Monday to debate the future certification of Zimbabwean diamonds came to no conclusion. The Kimberley Process Working Group on Monitoring (WGM) held a teleconference meeting to examine the recommendations made by Abbey Chikane, the KP certification scheme monitor on Zimbabwe. In his interim report, shortly after his second visit to Zimbabwe, Chikane said Zimbabwe had met the international diamonds watchdog’s minimum requirements and should be allowed to resume diamond exports from the controversial Chiadzwa diamond fields.
But Bernard Taylor, Executive Director of Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), an organisation in the WGM, told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that no major decision was taken with respect to certification for Zimbabwe’s diamonds and a follow up meeting will be held in Tel Aviv next week. Israel is the current chair of the Kimberley Process.
Taylor said there are diverging positions in the WGM. There are those who want Zimbabwe suspended from the Kimberley Process, as had been recommended by a KP report last year, and that there were others who were in support of the Zimbabwe governments position.
“That hasn’t changed. There are mixed opinions and with the KP’s decision making process that leads to prolonged discussions,” said the PAC director.
PAC, which is also a member of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, says the civic groups believe that what is happening with the management of the diamond sector in Zimbabwe is totally unacceptable. “We maintain our position that the KP monitor has done a very poor job of monitoring what has been happening and should not continue in his position and that the monitoring process should be stopped. We further recommend that Zimbabwe be suspended from the Kimberley Process.”
However, ZANU PF Mines Minister Obert Mpofu reacted very strongly to this position, saying Zimbabwe will present its case at next week’s KP meeting in Israel, showing how it has been unfairly treated.
Minister Mpofu is quoted in the Herald newspaper saying: “We are a principled country. These people (PAC), have employed some locals to demonise their country. They are working against the people of Zimbabwe.”
“We are going to deal with those peddling falsehoods to international organisations legally.”
Farai Maguwu is one of the Zimbabwean rights activist currently facing accusations of ‘communicating falsehoods’ about the ongoing crisis at the Chiadzwa diamond fields. He has been in custody since June 3rd and his defence team has expressed concern that the State is dragging its feet so that it can continue to keep him incarcerated.
Speaking about his research organisation, before he was arrested, Maguwu said: “The Centre for Research and Development is a member of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, and this month we were due to travel to Israel to present our findings of the goings-on in Chiadzwa, especially matters of human rights abuses, panning and smuggling. This setting up and all these nefarious allegations being levelled against me are simply meant to start a long legal battle that will keep me in the country and that will also paralyse the operations of our organisation.”
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights issued an alert on Wednesday saying the life of Maguwu is in danger, after police officers who abducted him from remand prison were alleged to have tampered with his medication.
Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told High Court Justice Chinembiri Bhunu that police officers who abducted Maguwu from remand prison over the weekend had tampered with the medication he was taking for a sore throat, and chest infection.
Justice Bhunu then ordered the human rights defender to be examined by a medical doctor of his own choice and postponed his bail hearing to Thursday.
SW Radio Africa News Stories for 16 June 2010
Political analyst Luke Zunga has recently completed research on how Mugabe has managed to always stay a step ahead of his political opponents. Zunga says his research identifies Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri as Mugabe’s chief enforcer. The police chief plays a pivotal role by using his police force to torment, terrorise and arrest MDC officials, supporters, activists and anyone else believed to be opposed to Mugabe.
Callback
June 16th is a day set aside to draw attention to the African Child, in remembrance of the brave young students who took to the streets of Soweto in 1976 to demonstrate against a biased education system. Organisations with a focus on youth are using today to reflect on the progress toward health, education, equality and protection for all youths. We hear from the President and Secretary General of the Youth of Zimbabwe for Transparency, with a special message for young Zimbabweans.
The Wednesday Forum
The Zimbabwe Diaspora Focus Group was formed to facilitate better communication between the British Government and Zimbabweans in the UK, and the forum hosts ZDFG Chairperson Lucia Dube who talks about the progress, and challenges they have met so far.
WHO IS FUNDING THE ZANU PF
BACKED ZIMTA?
A Response from ZIMTA.
The above question was asked by Britavoice in her article posted on http://britavoice-zim-girl.blogspot.com/. I will attempt to answer my dear sister who wrote her article with so much passionate anger against ZIMTA like a spurned lover. I note with interest in your profile you say you are a writer and poet. I hope in my response I will teach you sister that facts should be divorced from emotions. Like a good teacher that I am, let me advise you.
1. BRIEF HISTORY AND ZIMTA’S PHILOSOPHY.
Your question Britavoice will receive some fair attention if I give you some brief about ZIMTA’s formation and guiding ideology. The present day ZIMTA was formed in 1942 as Southern Rhodesia African Teachers’ Association (SRATA) and has operated as an independent apolitical institution to date. This statement makes ZIMTA the oldest teacher trade union with a trade union experience of 68 years. This makes ZIMTA the patriarch or matriarch of teacher trade union movement in Zimbabwe. ZIMTA has a clean history and all its achievements have come through hard work and concerted mobilization under pinned by desire to be self – reliant. These are a rare attributes that can only be found in a principled, morally upright and independent institution.
To answer your question, who is funding ZIMTA or as you alleged ‘ZANU-PF backed ZIMTA. ZIMTA is funded by its 44 000 strong members, neatly woven by commitment to genuinely serve Zimbabwean teachers. Non-of the political parties has ties with ZIMTA as an institution but our members enjoy freedom of conscience so as to join ZANU PF, MDC-T, MDC-M or Kusile/ Dawn/Mavambo. We have all these activists in our membership ranks. As ZIMTA we reserve the right to interrogate politicians and political processes without fear or favour, in pursuance of the social, economic and trade union goals of educators.
2.0 MATERIAL STATEMENTS OF FACTS.
In your Britavoice, article you peddle misstatements / falsehoods as statements of fact, thus misguiding readers into believing that you are knowledgeable about ZIMTA or Zimbabwean situation. Let me clear the following misstatements.
i) Firstly Raymond Majongwe is not the President of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), if you know so much about Zimbabwe trade union politics; you should have known better that Raymond Majongwe is the Secretary General of PTUZ not the president.
ii) Secondly if you have followed teacher trade union politics you should have told readers that ZIMTA did not split from other unions. You seem to suggest by implication to unite with them that ZIMTA has never wanted to unite with other organisations. ZIMTA has travelled the road of unity ever since its formation; it has encouraged teachers to remain united. In 1981 ZITA former (RATA) and National Teachers’ Association merged to form one strong body ZIMTA. Currently ZIMTA has in its strategic plan of up to 2010 to unite all teachers in Zimbabwe and has shared this vision with all teacher unions.
Driven by this experience and led by ZIMTA president Mrs Tendai Chikowore, ZIMTA has committed and signed the following documents with PTUZ in an effort to bridge teacher trade union differences, Statement of Intent committing the two organizations to a joint programme of action directed towards a number of areas, Agreement on Operationalizing the Statement of Intent, Agreement on Principles of Engagement and Conduct and Agreement on Statutory Body Representation. These pieces of agreements are made to nurture teacher unity in Zimbabwe and to see its realisation which will be anchored on strong foundation of cooperation, tolerance and mutual respect.
Respect for Zimbabwe’s
Institutions.
It is unfortunate that Britavoice chooses to misstate facts by citing utterances that Mrs Chikowore never said. No way in her addressees has Chikowore as a Zimbabwean, sought to denigrate institutions of this land by addressing our Honourable Prime Minister Mr Morgan Tsvangirai as “a Tsvangirai”. Britavoice accuses Mrs Chikowore for calling President Mugabe President, if Mugabe is not president of Zimbabwe who is, I beg to know. For the avoidance of doubt / have copied Britavoice the ZIMTA president’s address to the ZIMTA 29th Annual Conference and in the salutation the Prime Minister is cited honourably. However if you know of any instance where you heard Mrs. Chikowore utter such disparaging comments to the Hon. Prime Minister I will be grateful to know the forum.
Britavoice, seems to regret that ZIMTA wrote a stinging letter to the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, nothing can be further than from the truth. ZIMTA did not write to President Mugabe but it was APEX Council that did, representing Public Sector Workers which includes teachers. Mrs Chikowore is the current Chairperson of this council which comprises the Public Sector workers under Public Service Association (PSA) and Educators represented by ZIMTA, PTUZ and Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ). That Mrs. Chikowore leads APEX Council should not irk Britavoice because it is a result of consultations among the Public Service Unions who are wise enough to make choices. Please do not take your hatred of the lady too far.
Education International
and ZIMTA .
In your article my good sister, you choose to smear Education International with serious falsehoods, that EI is sponsoring ZIMTA, in actual fact ZIMTA is affiliated to EI and pays membership dues to EI. Education International does not fund ZIMTA it cooperates with ZIMTA on those programs that advance trade union movement ideals and other societal cross cutting issues like HIV and AIDS. Education International is a dignified, morally upright and forthright organisation and cannot be manipulated that way, not even the Britavoices of this world. In fact EI has committed itself to principles of democracy, human rights and social justice as articulated in EI’s article 3 of General principles. As for Britavoice I wish to advise her to apply her energies in addressing Zimbabwe’s issues like human rights abuses, the reformation of our laws and constitution making process, this way the Diaspora pressure would have been applied strategically on critical pressure points.
CONCLUSION.
It is my hope that this exposure will enlighten Britavoice, and surely as a writer that you purport to be, do some dignified research before peddling emotions and opinions as facts. Take time to consult your subjects before going to print, it will give some respect and credence to your theatrical prose.
Sifiso Ndlovu
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
(ZIMTA)
sifmlevu@yahoo.com
VOA News
The Herald
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Ruth
Butaumocho and Paidamoyo Chipunza
16
June 2010
Harare —
SOUTH AFRICAN songbird Yvonne Chaka Chaka yesterday broke down and wept openly
as children narrated their horrific sexual abuse ordeals at Harare Hospital.
For two
minutes or so, journalists, Family Support Unit Trust officials and hospital
staff tried to calm the weeping Princess of Africa.
Tears flowed
freely down her cheeks as she listened to a harrowing account from a
16-year-old boy who was abused by his church pastor.
Apart from
touring malaria programmes, she will also perform at the Day of the African
Child commemorations today.
It was a
touching moment when Chaka Chaka hugged and cried in the arms of a female
counsellor as the forlorn youth gave a graphic account of how the pastor abused
him at his parents' house.
The Princess
of Africa had to be assisted by counsellor Linette Njambi.
The diva -
who rose to stardom with such hits as Umqombothi, Thank You Mr DJ and I'm
Burning Up and is also a successful businesswoman - applauded Government's
initiative in setting up the Family Support Unit Trust at the hospital.
After
touring its facilities, she appealed for more stakeholders to support the
initiative.
"Back
home, we have a one-stop shop (Thembalami) where abused children are treated,
counselled and receive life supporting skills.
"I
would love to see the same thing happen here in Zimbabwe."
Dressed in a
black knee-high skirt, white top, pink wrapper, topped with a pair of designer
sunglasses, the dreadlocked diva had earlier visited malaria mitigation
projects in Murehwa where she mingled with the community and had several photo
shoots with health officials and ordinary Zimbabweans.
Chaka Chaka
commended the Government and its development partners for playing a major role
in sensitising communities on malaria.
Malaria is
endemic in Murehwa.
Chaka Chaka
said she was "amazed" by the level of information villagers had on
malaria.
She urged
Government and its partners, such as Population Services
International-Zimbabwe, Unicef and the Japanese Embassy in Harare, to continue
encouraging people to sleep under mosquito nets instead of converting them for
other uses.
Reports from
some districts indicate some villagers are using the nets for fishing.
Chaka Chaka
said more work was needed in terms of providing adequate nets.
For Murehwa,
PSI and Unicef distributed about 24 000 nets, leaving a gap of about 60 000
more.
Chaka
Chaka's technical advisor, Mr Louis Dagama, recommended that household surveys
be regularly conducted to monitor net usage.
"There
is need to increase community involvement in these interventions so that they
have a sense of ownership of the programmes," Mr Dagama said.
In Zimbabwe,
malaria accounts for a third of all hospital admissions and is the third
largest cause of death after HIV and Aids and tuberculosis.
The Princess
of Africa has been at the forefront of South African pop music for more than 20
years.
She is set
to release another album titled "18/28.
(Feature)
By Jan Raath Jun 16, 2010, 3:06 GMT
Harare -
Trevor and Karen Gifford spent Sunday afternoon sipping beers with friends on
the lawn of their farmstead in the lush hills of Chipinge in eastern Zimbabwe,
celebrating a neighbour's 50th wedding anniversary.
By the end
of the day, the couple was on the road with the few pickup-truck loads of
belongings they had managed to retrieve.
The farm
that had been in Trevor Gifford's family for three generations was now occupied
by a minor official in President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
'We are
homeless,' Gifford said. 'We're having to camp at a friend's house. We don't
own any other house, we don't have money to buy another one or even rent one.
We are going to have to live from day to day. Everything we got went into the
farm or was used in litigation to look after what is rightfully ours.'
That's how
fast the life of a white farmer in Zimbabwe can change under Mugabe's land
reform programme. Many have found that the protection of the law doesn't apply
to them, because of the colour of their skin.
Observers
say that the lawless taking of white farms is probably the greatest
embarrassment faced by Zimbabwe's coalition government of Mugabe and
pro-democracy Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
There are
periods of calm in the scattered pockets of white rural communities now left in
Zimbabwe - some 300 families, down from 5,000 just 10 years ago.
Then, mobs
of drunken youths descend without warning, threatening, beating and terrorising
farmers, their families and their workers.
They take
over farmers' homes, crops, tractors seeds and chemicals, but rarely plant
anything. They starve pigs and chickens to death, and hack cattle and horses
with machetes.
The
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other agencies say there is no
doubt that the destruction of the white commercial farming sector is the
fundamental cause behind the steady collapse of what once was one of Africa's
most robust, diverse economies.
The
Zimbabwean Commercial Farmers' Union blames the current wave of farm evictions
- 18 in the last two weeks alone - on Didymus Mutasa, one of the most senior
officials in Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
The union
said that Mutasa has been travelling through the eastern province of
Manicaland, telling Zanu-PF land-grabbers to ignore court rulings on white
farmers' properties.
Sixteen
Zanu-PF youths and an older man descended on Gifford's farm on Sunday, their
screeching arrival in a speeding pickup startling the white group. The man
announced that he had been granted Gifford's farm and had come to immediately
take occupancy.
Gifford
said he calmly replied that he had a high court order affirming his right to
farm there without interference. The local state land committee had also found
that he should be left to farm.
'He just
said no,' Gifford recounted on Tuesday. 'He said: 'You don't have any legal
rights and you either go now with some dignity, or it's going to get very
violent.''
Gifford
said he spent two hours pleading for help from ministers and senior officials
in Tsvangirai's wing of the coalition government, to no avail.
'I give
orders (to police), but it doesn't mean they get followed,' Giles Mutsekwa, who
serves as joint minister of home affairs, reportedly told Gifford.
Western
diplomats say Tsvangirai is helpless, faced with officials in Mugabe's police
and army who ignore him. He has given up on protesting and appears to be living
with it as a fact of life, one diplomat said.
As Gifford
scrambled to find help, the intruders drank, became increasingly aggressive and
built two large bonfires on the lawn.
'You learn
when it gets like this, you get your stuff off before it gets looted,' Gifford
said.
At
midnight - eight hours after the ordeal had begun - Gifford and his wife
managed to negotiate their way past the aggressors and drove away from the farm
that had been in his family since 1894. Gifford, his father and his grandfather
had all been born there.
There are
only five white-owned estates left in Chipinge, down from 128 at the start of
Mugabe's land reform programme in 2000.
Gifford's
farm, Wolverhampton, had then boasted 800 hectares of intensively farmed
coffee, avocado, pears, macadamia nuts, timber, beef and dairy cattle, chickens
and sheep.
By Sunday,
repeated land grabs had left him with just 150 hectares. The properties that
were taken are now in ruins, he said.
Gifford
was scheduled to appear in Chipinge's court on Tuesday to face two counts of
continuing to farm.
He is also
due in a court in the eastern city of Mutare next week, after managing to have
a high court reverse a ruling by magistrate Samuel Zuze, which had dismissed an
application to have Zuze himself removed after he laid claim to another
farmer's land.
Gifford
said that Zuze charged him with contempt and had him held in police cells for
five nights.
But the
thought of giving up has never occurred to Gifford.
'I am so
used to this,' he said. 'It's just another challenge, a day in the life of
being in the country we live in.'
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/features/article_1563584.php/In-Zimbabwe-one-minute-you-re-a-farmer-then-it-s-all-gone-Feature
http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=67027
Release Date: June
14, 2010
Studio:
First Run Features
Director: Lucy
Bailey, Andrew Thompson
Screenwriter: Not
Available
Starring:
Not Available
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: Not Available
Official Website: Not Available
Review: Not Available
DVD Review: Not
Available
DVD: Not
Available
Movie
Poster: Not Available
Production Stills: Not Available
Plot Summary: Michael
Campbell is one of the few hundred white farmers left in Zimbabwe since
President Robert Mugabe began his violent land seizure program in 2000.
Initially a policy meant to reclaim white-owned land and redistribute it to poor
black Zimbabweans, it has instead been used to gift farmland to Mugabe’s
supporters. Like hundreds before him, Mike has suffered years of land invasions
and violence at his farm. But this genial 75-year-old grandfather with a dry
sense of humor has refused to back down. In 2008, Mike took the unprecedented
step of challenging Mugabe and his Land Reform program in an international
court, accusing the regime of illegal racial discrimination and violations of
basic human rights. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 2008 Zimbabwean
presidential elections, MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN follows Mike and son-in-law
Ben Freeth in their harrowing attempt to save their family farm and the lives
and livelihoods of the 500 black workers that live and work there.
The outcome of the international court case
will determine not just the future of Mike and his family, but that of millions
of Zimbabweans. ′ Whatever the verdict, this audacious stand may cost them their
lives. ′′With much of the film shot covertly at the risk of imprisonment to the
filmmakers, MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN is the only documentary to come out of
Zimbabwe in recent years, where a total press ban still exists, and is perhaps
the outside world’s only real glimpse inside Mugabe’s modern-day Zimbabwe.